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Hip Hop, Battle Rap, and Surviving COVID: Talking Rap Elite 2022 With Radio B

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Hip hop is the only genre of music you will ever hear described as a game. The way people talk about “running the rap game,” you’d almost think it was a sport. Here’s the thing: it is, kind of. Or at least, it kind of started out as one. And here in Richmond, some of the most talented artists, creatives, movers and shakers are working together to keep the competitive side of hip hop alive and well in the central Virginia rap scene.

Radio B is the founder of RVA Rap Elite. The group, which started a few years ago under the name Lyricist Lounge, includes a whole passel of Richmond rap leaders. They all come together to put on events that feature the most talented emcees and producers in the city, competing through things like ciphers and rap battles to impress a tough crowd and prove who has the skills necessary to get the acclaim as the best in the city.

The first big event of RVA Rap Elite’s 2022 season will be taking place this Sunday, January 23, at Tang & Biscuit. Not only will it feature a headlining set from Norfolk-based hip hop collective Geau Lagoon, it will see teams led by local hip hop luminaries — in this case, Ant The Symbol and Skinny Hendrixx — battle it out in a team cipher. Plus, there’ll be an open cipher featuring over 20 emcees, and a producer’s lounge hosted by Radio B’s AGM compatriot, NameBrand.

But let’s say not all these terms are familiar to you. Let’s say you’re not even sure what is going to be happening at this show on Sunday. If so, don’t worry — you’re not alone. That’s why RVA Mag’s John Reinhold sat down with Radio B for an extended conversation recently, to learn all the ins and outs of RVA Rap Elite, from the basic rules of the game to the intricacies of keeping what amounts to a citywide sports league made up entirely of musicians on track in the midst of a global pandemic. Read on and get informed.

John Reinhold: You’re a busy man, I know you have your hands in a lot of different things and moving parts. I figure let’s start at the beginning. How did RVA Rap Elite start? 

Radio B: Rap Elite originated at Strange Matter, I believe in 2017. It started out as RVA Lyricists Lounge, in honor of the elements of the original Lyricist Lounge, started by [Anthony] Marshall and company in New York. [It] was created to honor MCs, lyricists, and people that really cared about bars and the elements of rap that we came up on: the cypher and the battles. The competitive aspect and spirit of hip hop. Wanting to not only give a voice to those MCs, but also reinvigorate that element and that energy.

I felt that we had gotten to a point in hip hop, as a whole but especially locally, where artists, just because of social media, the internet, artists were taking a quicker route to becoming rappers. The title of MC was just not relevant. And that bothered me. There was a time when I was coming up that you really had to  go out in public to prove yourself. It wasn’t just image. You couldn’t just create a persona or social media handle, take some pictures, shoot a video, record a song in your house, and say, “Hey, I have a SoundCloud, I’m an artist now. I’m a rapper now.” That was impossible then. That’s just not how you did that.

You had to first establish the fact that you could rap. You had to go out in front of someone who would be typically critical of you, if you were not good. You had to impress upon them that you, in fact, can rap. And then they would validate that. That could be the barbershop, it could be the school cafeteria, it could be the football game. It could be a cipher, an open mic. It could be anything where hip hop was, where the culture was. You would have to go out there and brave that insecurity, have your voice heard. And in that process, something would happen within you, as you got that validation from the people.

John: So you wanted to bring it back to almost like a workshop. 

Radio B: Yeah, to the grassroots element of it all. And I say all of that to say that is how we got the biggest superstars in rap that we’ve ever gotten. The Jay-Zs, the Nas’s, the Eminem’s, the DMX’s. The reason we got those artists was because they came up in that environment, where you had to repeatedly go out in public and impress crowds, groups of people that were not easy to impress! And win them over, and make them react to your bars. What you wrote, how you rapped it, how confident you were when you rapped it, what you looked like when you were rapping it. All of that mattered.

Every time that you went out and did that, your confidence grew, your chip on your shoulder grew; you were becoming somebody, as far as the craft is concerned. That’s what you took into the studio as you began to become a recording artist, that level of confidence. That you knew, like, “I’m that guy.” That’s what being a rapper, being an MC, was. Once these artists got into the studio, they started to make these incredible songs, they had this longevity, and such layered amounts of talent in the music. It was because they went through that process. It’s a hardening, it’s a crystallization of the craft. I wanted to bring it back to having to go through those rites of passage, go through those trials, go through that criticism. Having the determination to come out and prove yourself. 

Photo by Till Infinity

John: So it started at Strange Matter in 2017, and then evolved into Rap Elite?  

Radio B: Well, it probably would still be at Strange Matter if it never closed. We have become a gypsy platform — not by choice. We’re pretty loyal; as long as you’re loyal to us and you’re open, we’re gonna be there. If you’re good to us, we’re going to stay. We brought something valuable to every venue, but we had to move around. I would say if anything, we’ve had tough luck, but we’ve been pretty resilient. One thing that I knew about trying to create a platform like this in 2017 was that you couldn’t just have an open mic, like back in the day.

John: It needed some more structure in order to move it forward? 

Radio B: It needed to be modern. There was a reason why that type of rap wasn’t being preferred. You weren’t going to say, “Hey, come over here and rap now.” How do you make this appealing to a newer generation that never experienced this? That was one of the things with Southpaw Battle Coalition, [which] preceded RVA Rap Elite [and] RVA Lyricists Lounge — everything gets filmed. All the battles get filmed, [and] you distribute them on YouTube to promote them. So having gone through that process repeatedly through Southpaw, it was like, “Oh, if we add that element to the ciphers, to the live performances, we can provide that video content.” When people need to see themselves perform, have that footage to do with as they please through their social media. Everybody wants content in 20-whatever, right? So that was kind of my hook for this generation, to bring the old to the new. I think that’s one of the things that has helped us be able to bridge that gap.

John: Can you tell me a bit more about Southpaw Battle Coalition, and the difference between Rap Elite and Southpaw?

Radio B: Yes. They are two different platforms. Southpaw Battle Coalition started in 2016. It is a traditional battle rap platform: no beats, just like you would see on Smack/URL: one MC versus another, head up, for one or three rounds. It’s pure battle rap: no ciphers, no music, just bars. Just straight “I’m at you, you’re at me” dog bite type of situation.

We’ve had some of the biggest battle rappers in the world grace our platform. We’ve done hundreds of thousands of views on that, on [the Southpaw Battle Coalition] channel. It’s definitely been culturally impacting; it’s changed battle rap culture in Richmond. It’s exposed it and bridged it to the music scene. When I first came upon the battle rap scene in Richmond, I was kinda astounded by the fact that the hip hop scene and the battle rap scene really knew nothing of each other. A lot of the battle MCs really weren’t involved in the hip hop scene, and they didn’t really know many people, even myself, moving around in those events. And no one in the hip hop scene knew that these battles were even happening.  I’m just like, “Wow — this is not something that should be.”

John: So how do you even bridge the gap between them, to get them in the same room and exposed to each other?

Radio B: The first thing that I did… Well, I wasn’t going to start a league. I had an itch to battle in this format. When I used to battle back in the days, it could happen any time. Like, you rapped, I rapped; somebody is going to be like, “Yo, y’all should battle.” It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t filmed. You didn’t prepare for that. You rap with what you had, or you freestyle, you know what I’m saying? Whoever was there to see it saw it. That’s how battle rap went when I was coming up. I really wanted to try my hand at that element of battle rap, because I’m a very competitive rapper. I started rapping because of the competitive aspect of it. So I’m like, all right, I’m in — shout out to LOC, League of Champions. They were the league that was going on originally in Richmond battle rap. I was going to the events and I was just like, who is “the guy” over here? The guy, the man, you know. Whoever that is, that’s who I want to battle. That was my thought process at the time. I wanted to be that one time, but it needed to be the best guy. 

John: So you’re going to the top, and you’re pinpointing the top. You’re like, “I’m gonna take the head off the top.” 

Radio B: And [then] I’m out! That’s that. “I’ll help y’all bridge this gap to the hip hop scene, because I feel like you all should know each other.” That was my goal. But when I got there, there wasn’t somebody specifically that was that person. Everybody was good, but there wasn’t somebody that was head and shoulders [above the rest]. You know, battle rap is just getting to a point where we’re doing a lot of judged battles. Back at that time, MCs battled, and the audience, or whoever watched your video, decided for [themselves]. You could tell who won by reactions, but it wasn’t a “crowned-winner” type of thing. You couldn’t go by a champion or anything like that. It didn’t exist.

The league owner, though, was Bravo, and Bravo is a legendary MC from our city as well. I was very familiar with him. I knew that he had the chops to probably be the best guy over there, but he wasn’t an active battler. He was the Vince McMahon, so to speak. But when I was at the event, he put a challenge out: he wanted to battle.

John: That’s like the sensei. The sensei goes, “Who’s stepping up? Who’s going to step on the mat and do this? Who wants to be the first?”

Radio B: And it wasn’t like he was saying that day or anything. He was just saying, in general, he’s ready to come back. And no one seemed to be the first, right? No one seemed to be too antsy about that. That struck me as, “Oh, that‘s ‘the guy’.” So I set my sights on Bravo, and I let him know that that’s what I wanted to do. And we’re friendly, you know. He’s like, “I don’t know, do you want to do that?” I’m like, “I am so sure of this.” But it took a lot to convince them to do it.

We ended up doing it. We ended up calling it Legends Never Die. We didn’t have an undercard, anything like that. It was literally the biggest battle in Richmond history. I mean, we probably put like 300 people in there in one battle, you know what I mean? We ended up putting a couple other battles on it, but we didn’t promote them. It was literally one battle promoted: just me and him. But it was promoted for a good eight, nine months.

John: There’s a lot of lead-in time for that one, then. 

Radio B: A lot of lead-in time. it was huge. It was an amazing battle. Definitely go check that out. Ultimately he ended up leaving LOC, and I was still very focused on wanting to make battle rap, and Richmond, better. We decided to come together — myself, him, Nickelus F — and create The Southpaw Battle Coalition. So our first event was Legends Never Die Two, in which I battled a super legend in this game named JC. Nickelus F had his return battle to battle rap with Danja Zone at the Broadberry. That was the beginning of what is the Southpaw Battle Coalition. And RVA Rap Elite rapidly came down the line.

John: So Rap Elite is much different; it’s not based on the battle, it’s based on the ciphers and the judging, correct? 

Radio B: Yeah, it’s more cipher-focused. The live events are a mixture of the group cipher battles and one-on-one battles. We do have one-on-one battles.. 

John: But those events have music with the cipher? 

Radio B: The cipher battles do have music. Sometimes we do have Southpaw battles at those leagues. It’s the same culture. We also have live performances, where people come in.

John: Yeah, I noticed you have an element of the live performances mixed in with the ciphers to make it a full event. 

Radio B: We have the Producer’s Lounge and all of that. We consider Rap Elite a live, variety hip hop event. You’re going to get a little bit of everything from the culture. 

John: So what year are we on now? 

Radio B: We are on Season Five, starting January 23rd. 

John: How did COVID affect it last year? 

Radio B: When COVID hit, we were coming out of season two. We just got into The Dark Room [at the Hofheimer Building] towards the end of season two. We were selling out The Dark Room every month, faster and faster. Our show would start at 6:30, and like by 7:30, you’ve got people on Facebook like, “I can’t get in.” We were in the conversations about moving to the larger room at that point, The Loft. My whole thing was, “Just let it keep packing out for a couple months, and then we’ll move to the larger room. Because we were really enjoying it.” 

John: There’s like an intimacy in that room. Like, you’re a part of it. 

Radio B: Yeah, the intimacy. I love the aesthetic inside the Dark Room. And also, it’s supply and demand. You want that demand.

John: Yeah, I get it. You’d rather have a room that can fit a hundred people packed out than a thousand-person venue with a hundred people.

Radio B: And you’re like, “By the time we move in there, everybody will be ready.” That was what I was looking for. And the shows were getting crazy. The energy was just unlike anything that we had experienced up until that point. We were just coming into a new space with that, and COVID hit. Shut everything down, just like everyone else.

We were one of the first people. I was probably the first promoter to shut the show down for COVID. When we canceled our first show, I think there was only, like, one person in Virginia that had COVID. I could see the writing on the wall, and at that point, it was so scary. We didn’t… 

John: Yeah, we didn’t know. Like, is this the end of the world?

Radio B: Literally! I didn’t want nobody getting sick and dying because they came to my shit. That was my thought process.  I knew people were having events for weeks and weeks after me shutting my event down, but that just wasn’t… you know, it wasn’t all going to be on my conscience. So that was very, very difficult. 

John: It’s like, you built up a head of steam, and then here we are.  

Radio B: We worked hard for that.  We were already on our fourth venue by the time that happened, so for us to build that momentum and go through the closing of two venues and one not working out, and still being able to maintain momentum.

And a name change, mind you. Because we changed the name in the second season, that stunted our brand for a second. I didn’t think it was going to be that… you know, it’s the same Instagram. I didn’t get it. People didn’t automatically transition to it. It was interesting. We had to clear up some confusion around that.

So between the venue changes, the brand changes, to get to that point of that momentum and then to have it halted at that particular moment? Because there were some other opportunities that were coming around at time with Something in the Water — a lot of things were going on. Yeah, it was tough.

We did this thing called Rap Elite Madness. Right as COVID was kicking up, maybe the first month, this was the first show we were going to have when we started the first event back. [It] was an online battle tournament. We did a signup for 64 MCs to do video submissions.

John: Well that’s pretty cool. It’s interesting, the way that COVID made you switch gears, and then find new elements by need.  

Radio B: Right? The social media behind it, the video content. Zoom. There was no fucking Zoom we knew of. We didn’t use it. It was like, Twitch and all that. 

John: Twitch went through the roof. It became a thing for many. 

Radio B: And IG live, you know. It took the surge in those things, and we’re like, “Damn, if we already used some of these tools, wow!” Shit was still live. It would have been crazy to have, promotion-wise. But it was like hindsight is 20/20, you know? A lot of the things that came about, even Producer’s Lounge, because we started this Rap Elite Live, and we were doing different types of content every day. But man, it gave a huge energy. It saved us, you know? We would’ve been like every other platform. Nothing would have been going on.

John: Do you think COVID forced anybody, artistically, to be better? How do you think that affected the art for people? 

Radio B: I don’t know, man. There was so much jarring shit that occurred in that space. There was a lot of spiritual shit that went on with folks. Emotional reckoning and identity crises.

John: And of course we had the monuments and the marches and everything as well. 

Radio B: Yeah, and then we went right into that. It just was one of those times. It got real. It was real crazy.

John: It felt to me like a reckoning, where it’s like, “We’re going to deal with this.”

Radio B: Yeah, because there was never, ever anything that affected everyone at the same time. There had never been in my lifetime. Nothing that made everyone sit down. I don’t care if you’re rich, you’re poor, if you own the planes or you fly on the planes. All of you guys sit down. You gotta deal with it. It’s affecting you. Not something you know about, this shit. We all knew about 9/11. We might’ve been emotionally affected; some people weren’t. Some people were like, “Fuck it. I went to work today. Damn, that sucks that happened.” And they went about their business. They could do that. This? You couldn’t do that. You can’t just go about your business. That was impossible. That’s dead. A lot of things had to stop.

So it definitely simplified life. And those that could adjust to that simplification found peace. Those that were running from that stillness had the biggest problems. I was used to stillness. I was my mom’s caretaker. So what I realized was, I had already become a recluse. You know, for me and my mom, that was like, oh shit… 

John: Yeah, we have that in common with moms. We’re in this already, we’re just going to have to change a couple things.

Radio B: Everyone else is having this crisis. It’s like, “Shit, I want to go outside.” I’m used to only going outside for events. Like, my shit, the work, every now and then I got out, but it was difficult. I always had to make reservations to get out. So it was jarring, because I’m like, “Damn, my life has not changed that much.”

John: For me, it was almost like a realization: maybe I’m not as social as I act like I am. I can be social at the right moments, I already kind of knew that about myself, but COVID made it more real. 

Getting back to Rap Elite: can you explain the way that the ratings for individual hip hop artists’ ciphers are done? Also how are rankings calculated month to month heading into the final, to the top 20? 

Radio B: We have what is called The Road to MVP. All the tracking is done using Stat Central, which is tracking stats for MCs month by month, as they progress through each particular season. Those numbers come from their individual scores each time they perform in a cipher. For instance, in episode 35 an MC is Mila Mansa. So she goes up and she  wraps her two minutes in the cipher. At the end of her performance, she gets a score from three judges: myself, Nickelus F, and either Easalio or Spielburg, depending upon who our third judge is at that particular moment. That score is between one to 10, with the option of point fives in between, or whole numbers. The collective score of the three judges is what is that MC scores for that episode.

The MC with the highest score for that episode is that episode’s champion, [unless] an MC is less than a full point ahead of any MCs behind them. A 0.5 or less difference sends them to a sudden death. That sudden death round is a one-minute a capella verse from each MC. They get scored again. And any difference from the top point, that top MC wins. Whether it’s 0.5 or anything, if their ahead there, they win. If there happens to be a tie again, they rap again and get judged. 

John: Where did you get the point system from? How did that get decided?

Radio B: The concept of the scoring came from myself and my cousin Frank, who runs Stat Central. What we’re looking for is something that’s been generated between myself, Nickelus F, and the other judges. That’s really based on all around performance from that particular MC. We will take into account things like moments. So for instance, if an MC does have a freestyle moment where they capture something that occurs and it really moves the room, those are things we take into account. But overall: lyricism, cleverness, performance, uniqueness, style, confidence. Everything that you’re looking for from an MC, everything that you’re looking for from a dope verse. You know what I’m saying? How did you command that cipher? That’s the framework of what we’re looking for when we give those scores.

John: So how many months does a season last?

Radio B: Most of our seasons are somewhere between 8-10 episodes. This season, season five, will be from January to October, so it’ll be a 10 episode season. It might be our longest.  

John: So at the end, you tally the scores and start announcing your placements? 

Radio B: Yeah. So each episode, there’s a champion, and that champion receives a custom hoodie with their name and the number of the episode that they won. They also receive a free item of their choice from Mama Jo’s Collection. Then they also receive a free studio session with Michael Millions, where he records, mixes and masters one song for them. They also get a free pass to the cipher for the rest of that season. And of course, a win tally in the season so far. The first element of who would be the MVP would be who has the most wins, if those wins are close, and there’s other [related] stats. Then we started to look at other statistics and rankings…

John: I watched that full video and it was fascinating to me because I watch fantasy football articles out the wazoo. I hear people discussing placement of athletes and why they’re ranked here and it’s because, well, they did this well. I already geek out on that kind of stuff, so watching you guys go over the ciphers and talking about moments, I thought that was really dope. I didn’t necessarily understand the point system, but I thought it was cool to see the discussion of it.

So wins is obviously the most important statistic, but the content and moments also matter.

Photo by Till Infinity

Radio B: Right, right. We have point average. What was your point average for the season, per cipher. [There’s] your total points, but then also things like how many ciphers were you in. Someone’s point average could be high [but] if they were in three ciphers, you were in nine, your degree of difficulty and ability to maintain that average is probably a lot more challenging than someone did three times. We take all of those different things into account, different moments, and impact. Impact is a big piece of where your placement is. Like, how does it impact the platform? How long did we talk about that particular performance? Stuff like that.

John: It’s 2022 and the new season is starting. Tell me a bit about the kickoff show on Sunday. Give me a quick rundown for people.

Radio B: You brought the fantasy football thing up, so it’s a good segue to talk about the draft. [We had] our draft live at Brewer’s Cafe on January 18th. We basically have 10 influencers from the Richmond hip hop community, those are the team’s GM’s [general managers]. We have seven returning GMs and three new ones. The GM’s draft different MCs for every episode. So therefore, you know, sometimes you may have the champion on their team, or may not. 

John: So they draft for every episode. Gotcha. Who gets the first pick? 

Radio B: We do a lottery, because different MCs sign up every month. So they’re pulling from the 30 MCs that have signed up, once the cipher maxes out. In the past, the cypher was maxed out usually within a matter of days. This one’s taken a little long, but I think it’s just so much going on slowing people down. We got about five slots left as it stands right now, [but] by the time this airs, it’ll be maxed out.

This first event is going to be on January 23rd. We have our open cipher, the Producer’s Lounge segment with NameBrand and the different producers that are highlighted for that particular month. Also our season finale champion — not our MVP, but our returning champion from the last episode that we had last year — his group will be performing live. We’ll go from there to the cipher. Before it was like five on five MCs. One thing that is different about this one is the captains of these teams are actually producers. So the producers themselves will be producing with that cipher, assembled their own team of MCs to basically rap over their production. We have Ant the Symbol vs. Skinny Hendrixx, and they’ll produce their ciphers. I’m extremely excited about adding that element to the cipher. Ciphers usually are captain MCs picking other MCs, and other characters. [This] gives the producers an opportunity to show their range. Not only their production, but in going head to head, how they pick the MCs and what pull they have with artists to be able to come out and represent them. It’s a very stylistic thing, because everybody’s gonna have their own style, and each producer is going to like a certain style.

RVA Rap Elite’s Season Five premiere, featuring a performance by Geau Lagoon, cipher vs. cipher competition between Team Ant The Symbol and Team Skinny Hendrixx, and an open cipher featuring over two dozen rappers, will take place on Sunday, January 23 at Tang and Biscuit, located at 3406 W. Moore St in Scott’s Addition. Tickets for the event are $15 and can be purchased here or by going to rvarapelite.com.

Interview by John Reinhold. Intro by Marilyn Drew Necci.

Photo’s by https://www.tillinfinitymultimedia.com/

VA Shows You Must See This Week: January 22 – January 28

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FEATURED SHOW
Prsmcat Birthday Bash Minifest
Friday, January 24, 8 PM
Spooky Cool (Photo by Joey Wharton), Deau Eyes, Kate Bollinger, SHE
Saturday, January 25, 8 PM
Sleepwalkers, Majjin Boo, Castle OG, Hollywood Cemetery
@Poor Boys – $12 in advance/$15 at door/$20 two-day pass (order tickets HERE)
It’s my birthday today; I am 44 years old, which means I’d only be considered “young” if I was running for President. But Prsmcat Presents is definitely younger — the up-and-coming RVA show booking concern is less than a year old at this point. Therefore, the Prsmcat Birthday Bash Minifest happening this weekend at Poor Boys is not actually a celebration for the booking group’s birthday but that of Prsmcat leader and Majjin Boo guitarist Zavi Yueske, who is… (checks notes) 16 years younger than me. Wow.

Let me stop worrying about how old I’m getting and move on by saying: Happy birthday, Zavi! His birthday gift is for the entire city’s music scene, as he’ll celebrate with this two-night, eight-band extravaganza of talented musicians from around Richmond and the central Virginia region. On Friday night, we get the double-dose of Richmond indie melodicism that is Spooky Cool and Deau Eyes. Both of these groups have exercised a “less-is-more” philosophy where recordings are concerned, which means you’ll surely hear some unrecorded tunes during both sets, and that’s a lovely thing from two world-class talents like these. Friday night will also feature Charlottesville singer-songwriter Kate Bollinger, whose laid-back, tuneful approach should pair well with the others on the bill.

Then Saturday night, Zavi gets to strut his stuff with Majjin Boo — who, in case I haven’t made it clear in this column before now, released the Richmond records I loved the most last year, the “Tension Rod”/”One Wing” single and Egghunt Records full-length Go Between. These guys are essential listening and will surely remain so going forward in 2020. They share Saturday night’s bill with fellow Richmond mainstays Sleepwalkers, who you should all know and love by now, as well as smooth-sounding indie mainstays Castle OG and difficult-to-google newcomers Hollywood Cemetery. Celebrate the wonderfulness Zavi Yueske brings into the world while enjoying that very wonderfulness all weekend at Poor Boys!

Wednesday, January 22, 7 PM
The Adicts, No-Heads, Talk Me Off @ The Broadberry – $25 (order tickets HERE)
If you’ve paid attention to UK punk anytime in the last four decades, you’re sure to have heard of the Adicts. This catchy melodic punk band styled themselves after the droogs of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, and have been cutting a memorable figure in the world of punk since they broke out with 1981 debut LP Songs Of Praise. Their singalong choruses are infectious enough that they’ve had chart hits in the UK with tunes like “Viva La Revolution” and “Bad Boy” — songs you’re sure to remember if you’ve heard them even once.

The Adicts’ heyday was in the 80s, but they’ve never really stopped recording and touring; they’ll be coming through RVA in support of their 11th album, And It Was So!, released by Nuclear Blast in 2017. The group’s core members have stayed the same throughout the past four decades, and their entertaining costumed live performances are still a fun, active spectacle. If you’ve never caught the Adicts live before, this is the perfect time to do it, and wear your best Malcolm McDowell eye makeup while you’re at it.

Thursday, January 23, 8 PM
Kai Orion, Kill The Druid @ Garden Grove Brewing – Free!
Every musician is creative, but it’s rare to find a musician out there who dismantles every assumption about musical orthodoxy with each new song they create. However, that is exactly how Kai Orion creates. The DC-based songwriter plays over a dozen instruments on his latest album, Start To End, some of which can only be described as “instruments” (vacuum cleaner, lawnmower, wine glasses, etc). He often works by himself, creating thickly layered compositions through use of a microphone, a loop creator, and a menagerie of voices, instruments, and random objects he has at hand.

The result is a collection of catchy and enjoyable tunes on his records, and a fascinating spectacle to behold in a live environment. At Garden Grove Brewing this Thursday night, you’re sure to see Orion create songs out of all sorts of random sounds, and you’re sure to be impressed how beautiful the end result is — especially with his Peter Gabriel-ish vocal chords unleashed overtop. Richmond post-rockers Kill The Druid will open this one up with an instrument-switching set that’s sure to both set the stage for Orion and remain much closer to a conventional rock show. The whole evening is sure to be a blast.

Friday, January 24, 9 PM
Fat Spirit, You’re Jovian, Alison Blue @ Fuzzy Cactus – $5
Fat Spirit have settled into a solid role as utility players in the Richmond alt-rock scene. They haven’t released any new material since 2017’s Nihilist Blues, but they continue bringing their raucous, exuberant performances to local venues on a regular basis, keeping the spirit of the slacker-rock 90s alive and evoking the spirits of Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. with their loud, guitar-driven tunes. You know what you’re getting with Fat Spirit these days, but that’s certainly not a strike against a band who always delivers a rockin’ good time.

They’re joined on this occasion by Hampton Roads residents You’re Jovian, who have a solid dose of the 90s embedded in their sound as well. On 2019’s Singles, this group shows themselves as occupying a similar territory to that of Fat Spirit, though Elliott Malvas’s more ethereal vocals definitely push the needle away from grunge and toward shoegaze — in the original Ride/Swervedriver/JAMC sense, rather than the MBV-plus-postrock context its taken on in the past decade. Putting these two groups together on a single bill makes for a great evening, especially if you’re the sort of guitar lover who can’t get enough of that sweet, sweet fuzz. Youthful VA Beach shoegazing fuzz-lovers Alison Blue will kick the whole thing off with a further dose of what you’ve been looking for, so don’t miss a minute of this one.

Saturday, January 25, 9 PM
DJ Williams’ Shots Fired @ Fuzzy Cactus – $15 (order tickets HERE)
Saturday night, and it’s right back to Fuzzy Cactus, this time for a homecoming show by one of Richmond’s favorite sons, DJ Williams. Around town, he’s known for his time fronting the DJ Williams Projekt, but this talented, blues-inclined guitarist has achieved more widespread fame beyond these shores in recent years with his work in Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. He’s also put together an all-star cast of sidemen for a new group called DJ Williams’ Shots Fired, who released a mostly-live LP called Live From Over Where back in 2018.

The funky, bluesy, Southern-tinged rock n’ roll that group shows off on their debut LP is exactly what they’ll bring to Brookland Park Boulevard when they show up at Fuzzy Cactus this Saturday night. I can’t tell you for sure who will be firing the shots behind Williams during this performance, but the group has included Williams’ fellow Tiny Universe members, as well as musicians from Dave Matthews Band, Slightly Stoopid, and Lenny Kravitz and Dr. John’s respective backing bands. Rest assured, no matter who DJ Williams brings with him on this jaunt, they’ll be talents equal to the kind of firepower he lays down. And as anyone who’s been paying attention around here for a while knows, that’s some serious six-string pyrotechnics.

Sunday, January 26, 6 PM
RVA Rap Elite Season 3 Premiere, feat. BASIC, Easalio, Tr3demark, Bravo vs. Chance Fischer, Team 804 Cypher (Vintage A, Henny LO, Habeeb, Tone Redd, Yung Sums) vs. Team 757 Cypher (BASIC, Will Jung, Amir Driver, Illien Rosewell, Eastcoast Mikey), Music by Hip Hop Henry & Melodic, plus Open Cypher @ The Dark Room – $10
Hip hop shows take research, y’all. For one thing, there are always a ton of people on the show (indeed, the Open Cypher on this bill will feature another 20-plus rappers I decided not to even attempt to list). For another, there are never any website links listed for any of them. And sometimes, you have to do some digging just to even get a list of who’s on the show. But I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining; the fact is, it’s all worth it when you encounter a show like this, full of a murderer’s row of talented MCs battling it out for lyrical supremacy.

There’s been a renaissance of battle rap on the Richmond scene over the past year or two, and RVA Rap Elite has been right at the heart of it, so it’s no surprise to see what a stacked lineup they’re bringing for the premiere edition of their third season. Personally, I’m most excited for the throwdown between world-class lyricists Chance Fischer and Bravo, but the Team 804 vs. Team 757 cypher battle promises some serious fireworks as well. And really, the overall atmosphere is the best part of all this; when RVA Rap Elite is happening, everyone wants to bring their A game, and the results are sure to delight any true hip hop head. So end your weekend at the place The Cheats Movement says is “making its claim to be the [hip hop] venue of choice” — The Dark Room at the Hofheimer.

Monday, January 27, 9 PM
Dark Thoughts, Sensual World, Ugly Muscle @ Fuzzy Cactus – $8
Dark Thoughts is the sort of band name that might lead you to expect a sound resembling that of Christian Death, or TSOL — punk, but a decidedly gothic take on punk. However, as the band’s fans well know, Philadelphia’s Dark Thoughts are made of much catchier stuff than those classic LA death-rockers. Their new LP, Must Be Nice, came out last month on Stupid Bag Records and is loaded with tracks that split the difference between snotty Dead Boys-style rockers and the Ramones at their most clumsily lovelorn.

Dark Thoughts play classic punk for classic punks, and since it’s the middle of a freezing January here in Richmond, you officially have no excuse for not breaking out your leather jacket for this shindig. You’ll get a bonus as well, in the form of two great local punk bands filling out this bill with their own excellent sounds. Sensual World brings a sort of forlorn jangle to their downbeat rumble, almost Gun Club-ish in execution; Ugly Muscle strip down their sound into a pounding, minimalist attack fueled by atonal synths and screaming. The whole thing is sure to delight any among you who appreciate the articulate aggression that punk rock is all about.

Tuesday, January 28, 6 PM
Shadow Of Intent, Signs Of The Swarm, Inferi, Brand of Sacrifice, Seraph @ The Canal Club – $15 (order tickets HERE)
It’s been 50 years since Black Sabbath’s debut album acted as the starting gun for the metal genre. Bands have progressed in all sorts of far-flung directions from that initial ground zero in the intervening half-century, and it’s difficult to find any band still playing a pure form of metal that would have been recognizable to Ozzy Osbourne in 1970. Nonetheless, there are a lot of outstanding musicians at work in the genre, producing milestones that may very well appear equally seminal once they’re 50 years in the rearview.

Shadow Of Intent’s 2019 LP Melancholy may or may not be one of those (though MetalSucks certainly likes it), but no matter how you slice it, the New England quartet definitely gave us a memorable slab of truly redoubtable heaviness when they released their third album last year. It’s both the deepest, darkest death metal and a particularly impressive display of musical omnivorousness, integrating orchestral melodies and gothic lyrical themes into their always-brutal sound in a manner that allows room to breathe while still pummelling listeners with a wonderfully aggressive efficiency. Seeing all of this brought to life on the Canal Club stage is sure to inspire a veritable forest of banging heads. Join the raging sea this Tuesday night, and celebrate the ongoing bounty that is the music of metal.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Thursday, January 23, 6:30 PM
Blackalicious, Black Liquid, Waasi, Grayling Skyy, DJ Almighty @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $25 (order tickets HERE)
Hip hop has always been a genre that focuses on skills, but there are some hip hop artists that stand out even in a crowded sea of fantastic MCs and DJs. Blackalicious, the duo consisting of rapper Gift Of Gab and producer Chief Xcel, is one of those, and has been for the past two decades. They haven’t exactly been prolific in that time; they’ve only released three LPs since 1999 debut Nia. However, regardless of how long they take to bring out new material, it’s impossible to deny that Blackalicious continues to make some of the most challenging, intricate, and talent-loaded music in the hip hop world.

The current Blackalicious tour is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Nia‘s release, so you can certainly expect a set list that leans heavily on that initial statement of purpose. Nia dropped right in the midst of the bling area and showed an entirely different worldview in the way Chief Xcel’s beats created mellow, soulful landscapes for Gift Of Gab’s witty lyrics about life and love. Blackalicious has remained on their own wavelength ever since, and if you’ve kept up with their less-than-prolific release schedule, you know that anything they want to bring us is more than worth the wait. That said, who knows when they might be back to VA after this? Get to their gig at The Southern this weekend while the getting’s good.

Saturday, January 25, 7 PM
Black Mass//Un-Baptism, feat. Xeukatre, Serpentshrine, Athame @ Pourhouse of Norfolk – Free!
Black metal is a notoriously intense genre, and while keeping it real did go wrong for a while in the mid-90s when the scene’s leading lights were killing each other and destroying thousand-year-old architecture, you have to admire the people who make this music’s commitment to the evocation of evil. That’s why I can’t help but be impressed to see three black metal bands from the MD/VA area teaming up with Satanic Norfolk this Saturday night for an honest-to-Lucifer black mass at Pourhouse of Norfolk.

Norfolk’s Serpentshrine, who occupy the middle slot on this bill, are musical advocates for Satan themselves, and the trio cranks out some old-style gritty riffage on latest EP Occultum Exordium. You Bathory fans out there will get a big kick out of these guys. Meanwhile, Baltimore’s Xeukatre kick out some guttural lo-fi roars and classic tremolo-picked riffs on their split with Hagerstown’s Athame, who round out both that split and this triple bill with the fastest and filthiest take on black metal of these three bands, Transilvanian Hunger-style. But of course the big event is the black mass; how intense is that gonna be? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to show up. Bring your own blood.

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Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: November 20 – November 26

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FEATURED SHOW
Friday, November 22 & Saturday November 23
Raw Mom Weekend, Night 1: Alfred, Trapcry, Archangel, F.R.E.E.
Night 2: Gumming, True Body, VV, Lance Bangs, Sofia Lakis
@ Gallery 5 – single night: $8 in advance/$10 at the door. Weekend pass: $15 in advance (order tickets HERE)
Hope everyone’s getting their wallets limbered up, their psyches strengthened, and their cars fit for traveling, because it’s that time again! Yes indeed, folks, the holidays are coming sooner than you think — Thanksgiving is a mere eight days away, and Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa are only a month past that. It’s coming time to see the fam, with all the happiness and terror that entails. But before the holiday season officially kicks in, let’s celebrate our river city fam with the first ever Raw Mom Weekend at Gallery 5.

My old pal Rivanna Youngpool has really outdone herself with this one, bringing two nights of incredible local talent together on the Gallery 5 stage to celebrate the ever-renewing wellspring of talent that is the Richmond music scene. Night one is the night on which we will all dance, featuring hip hop, ambient electro, and psychedelic dance grooves from several different politically-informed artists of color. Rapper Alfred will headline and bring his lysergic beats and tongue-twisting rhymes to keep your ears burning and your feet moving. Trapcry, meanwhile, brings powerful electric funk with a strong social conscience, as Archangel explores spaced-out anime-inspired breakbeats.

That’s Friday night, and on Saturday, night two brings us a whole different approach that’s sure to be equally invigorating. The noisy, quirky, brilliant, powerful punk rock of Gumming tops the bill and promises to trip you out and rip your head off all at the same time. Things will get more gothic at points with sets from True Body and VV, while Lance Bangs will bring you an always-pleasing dose of slack indie rockin’. Sofia Lakis will kick things off with some beats to ensure that there’s plenty of dancing on this night as well. What better way do we have to celebrate the last weekend before the holidays spread their ambivalent malaise across the next six weeks? I can’t think of one.

Wednesday, November 20, 9 PM
Ant The Symbol, GIANT, Johnny Ciggs, Reppa Ton, Rah Scrilla, Jarv, C Shreve @ The Richmonder – Free!
Over here at RVA Mag, we’ve been following the work of Ant The Symbol for a solid decade now, since back when he was still Just Plain Ant of the Just Plain Sounds crew. He’s been growing and maturing as a producer and musician ever since, and over the past few years, his massive collaborative albums have become event listening for the entire RVA hip hop scene whenever he releases one. THE WHAT?! is the latest in a string of Ant The Symbol releases on his post-JPS home of Gritty City Records, and it shows that as time goes on, the man just gets better at making incredible music for the city’s best to spit rhymes over.

That doesn’t mean he’s getting predictable — even his latest crew of collaborators can acknowledge that. The first thing Kels says on his THE WHAT?! track, “My Way,” is, “I love you, Ant, but this beat’s weird.” Speaking personally, that’s why I look forward to each new Ant The Symbol project — where others get predictable, he gets creative. He’s put out so many records I’ve honestly lost count, and he still hasn’t come anywhere near repeating himself. That’s why you should make a point to show up tonight at Gritty City’s longtime live home, which is called The Richmonder instead of Emilio’s now but is still the same dope spot. Ant The Symbol’s gonna join with his Gritty City crew and a whole bunch of other talented rappers from Richmond and beyond to bring you the freshest new sounds this city has to offer, in the form of his new album. Don’t be left asking, “the what?” Show up tonight so you know the answer.

Thursday, November 21, 7 PM
Wild Pink, Addy, Recluse Raccoon, Beeline @ Poor Boys – $5
If you’ve been seeing the phrase “Prsmcat Presents” on a bunch of good shows lately, you’re not the only one — this new booking project from members of Majjin Boo has brought a cornucopia of excellent live music to the city over the past couple months, and established themselves as a name to look out for. This visit from Brooklyn’s own Wild Pink is just the latest positive result of Prsmcat’s efforts around town, many of which have involved the return of rad live sounds to the backroom stage at Poor Boys, the venue formerly known as Flora and, before that, Balliceaux. I can’t imagine anyone having any complaints about that.

Wild Pink are definitely worth spending a Thursday night in the aforementioned back room. On last year’s Yolk In The Fur, it’s clear why this trio dedicated their latest album to the memory of Tom Petty — that recently-departed heartland rocker is an obvious influence for Wild Pink, one they feed through a 21st century sensibility that evokes the best work by The War On Drugs. It’s smooth, comfortable, and ever-so-slightly melancholy, in a manner sure to evoke a sad smile of recognition. Wild Pink will be joined on this weekend-preview night at Poor Boys by some excellent local indie groups as well, foremost among them Recluse Raccoon. The results are sure to charm you.

Friday, November 22, 7:30 PM
Bonsai Trees, Dropping Ugly, Linden Row @ Garden Grove Brewing – Free!
Damn, y’all, I love it when this happens — when I’m poking through a list of bands, all of which I’m unfamiliar with, trying to find the makings of a killer show. I always find something good — this is Richmond, after all; we do live music RIGHT. But it’s rare that I am totally blown away by a band whose name I’ve never even heard before. However, Connecticut’s Bonsai Trees are that rare band.

This talented quartet’s recently-released Learn To Grow LP came out of nowhere to blindside me with its incredible collection of melodic, emotional alt-rock tunes. The more I listen to it, the more stoked I get. At this rate, I’ll be bouncing all over the room by the time they even take the Garden Grove stage Friday night. And whether you’ve heard them before or not, I pretty much guarantee that once they start playing, you’ll be just as over the moon as I am. The fact that their show is free and also features talented RVA combos Dropping Ugly and Linden Row merely sweetens the already-delicious pot. Is that how that particular cliche works? Oh, who cares. All I care about is you going to see Bonsai Trees Friday night. Seriously, do it.

Saturday, November 23, 8 PM
David Shultz, Nick Woods, Jonathan Vassar, Trey Burnart Hall @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $8 (order tickets HERE)
By now, you’re probably used to seeing “singer-songwriter night” tagged onto certain performances that take place around this city, and you’ve come to expect certain things — talented solo performers who are for the most part just getting started with their musical careers, playing a selection of tunes you probably won’t have heard before but you just might love. This Saturday night show at Capital Ale House’s Richmond Music Hall could accurately be termed a singer-songwriter night as well, but if it were, it’d be a particularly stacked one, featuring as it does multiple Richmond musicians who’ve built decade-plus careers here in the river city.

Take David Shultz, for example. From his days fronting alt-country combo The Skyline to more recent solo acoustic outings and now some brand new tunes created with the assistance of multiple Spacebomb-affiliated creators (perhaps a harbinger of positive things to come?), Shultz has quite the track record going for him — and he’s clearly far from done as a creative musical force. His old pal Nick Woods is similar — once the Richmond-based frontman of indie-folk group Orioles, these days he’s making country-style acoustic music down in Nashville. And of course, Jonathan Vassar’s heartfelt folk-Americana sounds have been a constant here in Richmond for over 15 years now. Trey Burnart Hall is a relative newcomer by comparison, but he’s an incredibly talented one. If it’s a showcase for some of the most talented singer-songwriters this city’s ever produced that you crave, you’re in for a major treat at Capital Ale House this Saturday night.

Sunday, November 24, 6 PM
RVA Rap Elite Season Finale, feat. Team Radio (Radio B, Michael Millions, Cole Hicks, Cane, Intalek) vs Team Petey (Nickelus F, Big Sty, Easalio, Illa Styles, Fan Ran), Bravo vs. Chance Fischer, Big Sty, BlackLiq @ The Dark Room – $10
Battle rap is a strong tradition that dates back to the very dawn of hip hop, but it’s had its ups and downs over the decades. Freestyle battles between talented rappers are definitely on the upswing here in Richmond, though, and have been for the past few years, from the work of the Southpaw Battle Coalition to the star-studded presentations by RVA Rap Elite. This particular event constitutes the 2019 Season Finale for these events, which have relocated with the closing of Champion RVA to The Hofheimer Building’s Dark Room.

RVA Rap Elite majordomo Radio B is really pulling out all the stops for this last event of 2019, too — he and his AGM partner Nickelus F have each formed five-MC teams that will battle it out in a cypher sure to have faces melting and heads exploding all over the Hof. Between Radio B’s enlistment of heavy hitters Michael Millions, Cole Hicks, and more; and Nickelus F’s recruitment of Illa Styles, Fan Ran, and other world-class talents, it’s hard to predict who could prevail in this clash of the hip hop titans. Meanwhile, Bravo and Chance Fischer will strut their own stuff in a battle that’s guaranteed to showcase some devastating rhymes from these two top-level rhyme spitters. And of course, BlackLiq and Big Sty will each bring the fire with sets of their own. If you care at all about hip hop in RVA, you have got to make it out to this one — it really doesn’t get better.

Monday, November 25, 7 PM
Jimbo Mathus @ The Canal Club – $15 (order tickets HERE)
It’s entirely possible that right now, you’re thinking what I was thinking when I first saw this listing: “Jimbo Mathus… do I know who he is?” You almost certainly do, but chances are you know him better as the co-founder and leader of the Squirrel Nut Zippers than you do as a solo performer. Everyone remembers the Zippers from their late 90s hit, “Hell,” but that quick taste of success did them a disservice, as their old-time Dixieland jazz approach got them swept into the “swing revival” dustbin with the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and old VHS copies of Swingers when the turn of the millennium rolled around.

Meanwhile, Jimbo Mathus was and remains a world-class talent with a wide-ranging creative sensibility that finds him dipping into the worlds of folk, blues, and Southern soul, as he’s proven with his 2019 solo album Incinerator — his fourth under his own name. The album sees him collaborate with former Zippers bandmate Andrew Bird, as well as Lily Hiatt and members of the Drive-By Truckers. The result isn’t that much like your memories of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but it’s sure to be a hit with anyone who loves heartfelt American music created by truly unique characters that haven’t been homogenized by our country’s creeping suburban wasteland. That’s what you’ll get from Jimbo Mathus, and you’re going to love it.

Tuesday, November 26, 8 PM
La Dispute, Touche Amore, Empath @ The Broadberry – $25 (order tickets HERE)
One of the first articles I wrote for RVA Mag, nearly a decade ago, was about Touche Amore and Pianos Become The Teeth coming to town to perform. While La Dispute wasn’t part of that gig, they were, along with those other two bands, part of the loosely-aligned group known as The Wave. This was a cadre of half a dozen or so bands who formed an affiliation based on their mutual status as groups attempting to thread the needle between emo and hardcore at the dawn of the 2010s. Those groups have gone in a variety of musical directions since then — Pianos Become The Teeth have dropped the screaming and found a deep well of melodic emotion to draw from, Touche Amore have remained closely musically aligned to hardcore even as their exploration of deeply fraught lyrical content has cut ever closer to the bone.

As for La Dispute, 2019 has seen them sign to Epitaph Records and release their first LP in five years, Panorama. On it, vocalist Jordan Dreyer — always the most literarily inclined of The Wave’s songwriters — has gone deeper than ever into his novelistic inclinations, exploring his own emotional responses to trauma and tragedy in the lives of those he cares about over the course of the album’s 10 songs, even as the rest of the band generates dynamic compositions that move from quiet introspection to overwhelming crescendos in a matter of minutes. The result is an incredible musical journey that will have a powerful impact on all who witness it — especially in the live environment La Dispute will create at The Broadberry this Tuesday night. Let it impact you. Be there.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday, November 22, 6 PM
Femme Funk, feat. Shagwuf, Ships In The Night, Harli & The House of Jupiter, Dropping Julia, Marti @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $15 (order tickets HERE)
This Friday night in Charlottesville, The Southern Cafe will bring us the third annual celebration of C-ville’s showcase of femme musicians, Femme Funk. This year’s event is set to benefit Planned Parenthood of Charlottesville, and with the kind of peril reproductive rights and women’s health care face in Trump’s America, you’d be hard pressed to find a better cause than this one. Plus, you’ll get to hear a highly diverse set of sounds from Central Virginia performers of a feminine persuasion, and that’s always a joy.

It’s especially a joy when the evening is headlined by the unrestrained rock n’ roll passion of Shagwuf, whose blues-inflected alt-rock has been blowing minds around VA and beyond for quite a few years now. The evening will also feature as wide a variety of sounds as is possible to find in one room on one evening, from Harli & the House Of Jupiter’s powerful soul-punk fusion to Ships In The Night’s dark, ambient electronic sounds to the rootsy pop of Dropping Julia and the indie rocking of Marti. See how much femme artists have to offer the world of Virginia music and take a drive up 64 this Friday night for Femme Funk — you won’t be sorry.

Tuesday, November 26, 7:30 PM
Immortal Technique, GOOGZ @ Elevation27 (Virginia Beach) – $20-$25 (order tickets HERE)
If you’ve just been following the lists of new releases over the past eight years or so, you could be forgiven for thinking that Immortal Technique had retired from the hip hop game. We haven’t gotten any new music out of the most radical rapper in the game since his 2011 collection, The Martyr, and while he swears he’s still working on long-promised fifth album The Middle Passage, there’s no release date as yet. That’s all the more reason to head to Virginia Beach this Tuesday and see Immortal Technique murder the mic, live and in person.

While these days he’s probably better known for his radical left-wing politics due to multiple appearances on the shows of Joe Rogan and (uh) Alex Jones, Technique’s hip hop mixes those politics with some incredibly harsh lyrical content, leaving him somewhere between political rap and outright horrorcore — a dichotomy clearly visible in songs like “Point Of No Return” and “Dance With The Devil.” Regardless of whether you agree with everything Immortal Technique raps about (personally, I’ve never been a fan of his casual use of homophobic slurs), he’s an incredibly talented and provocative MC of the sort who doesn’t come around very often at all. So go see him, because there’s no telling when you’ll get the chance again.

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Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Top Photo: Gumming, by Joey Wharton, via Twitter

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond